Researching Documentaries - Nature Documentaries

Nature Documentaries are very popular amongst many people all accross the world. The genre covers animals and wildlife as well as different climates and areas, all over the world. Some can be very old talking about how the earth has formed over time and others talk about more recent topics, such as pollution and global warming. Most of the time the subject is filmed in its natural habitat. Usually these types of documentay tend to be broadcasted on terrestrial television as well as on digital tv, there are some channels dedicated to nature documentaries, such as, Animal Planet and The Discovery Channel. Although most of these nature documentaries are broadcasted on television, some are also made for the cinema.

One of the most recogninsable figures, with regards to nature, nature conservation and documentaries, has to be, Sir David Attenborough. He has done many documentaries regarding nature and wildlife and is highly recognised by millions of people all over the world. One of the most famous series' that Attenborough has done is the BBC's "Life" series which covered...

• Life on Earth (1979), 13 episodes
• The Living Planet (1984), 12 episodes
• The Trials of Life (1990), 12 episodes
• Life in the Freezer (1993), 6 episodes
• The Private Life of Plants (1995), 6 episodes
• The Life of Birds (1998), 10 episodes
• The Life of Mammals (2002), 10 episodes
• Life in the Undergrowth (2005), 5 episodes
• Life in Cold Blood (2008), 5 episodes

The list, above was taken from the following website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_documentary

An exctract of one of Attenborough's documentaries is shown below:

Another example of a nature documentary would be the work of Steve Irwin, (1962-2006). He had a number of documentaries that were and sre stil featured on "The Discovery Channel" and "Animal Planet", including:

• The Crocodile Hunter (1992–2004), 74 episodes
• The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course (2002), Movie
• Crocodile Hunter's Croc Files (1999), 52 episodes
• Ten Deadliest Snakes In The World (2001)
• The Crocodile Hunter Diaries (2001–2003), 30 episodes
• New Breed Vets (2005), 6 episodes
• Ocean's Deadliest (2006)

The list, above was taken from the following website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_documentary

An extract of Irwin's documentaries is shown below:





What Techniques Have They Used In Nature Documentaries?

• Voiceovers
• No Music or hardly any
• Some very sturdy shots
• Some shots with hand held cameras to make the audience feel part of the action, e.g Steve Irwin with the snakes on the video above
• Voice of god
• Very "to the point" and factual

Nick Broomfield

Nick Broomfield is an English, documentary filmmaker. Broomfield is known for filming with very few crew members, if any at all, giving Broomfield’s work a very unique and recognisable style.
He has achieved 8 awards and many nominations for his films and documentaries. The main types of documentaries that Broomfield produces are observational documentaries which focus on political issues in the contemporary UK and across the world. Just like Michael Moore, some of Broomfield’s work is known for being rather controversial.


Here is a list of the awards that Nick Broomfield has won, This list is taken from Broomfield's Official Website - http://www.nickbroomfield.com/

Awards:

• Best Director - San Sebastian Film Festival (2007)



• Golden Screen - Festival European Des 4 Ecrans (2007)



• Bafta Special Award for his contribution to the Documentary Genre (2006)



• Winner of the British Academy Award



• The Prix Italia



• The Dupont Columbia Award for outstanding journalism



• The Peabody



• The Royal Television Society Award

One of the most famous documentaries that Nick Broomfield had directed was an expository documentary, called, "Aileen Wuornos: Life and Death of a Serial Killer." This was about a phsycotic prisoner who was held at death row for twelve years before being executed by a lethal injection. The prisoner was famous because it was the first female serial killer, in the history of America. Not only did Broomfield direct this documentary but he also played a big part in it as he was with Aileen throughout a majority of the documentary talking to her and interviewing her. I had watched this documentary and found some points very useful and interesting, which i might use when it comes to producing my own documentary...

• Some sturdy shots and some are shaky with hand held cameras to make the audience feel part of the action


• Voiceovers


• Interviews


• Shots of newspapers headlines


• Interviews with the victims' friends and family


• Shots of the police with a voiceover of an interview, then later cutting into a shot of the interview


• Although there is little music used in the documentary most of the footage contains diagetic, natural sounds to make the audience feel more engaged and makes the footage sound more realistic and intense, rather than being too story-like.

Below is a trailer for this documentary...

You can watch the full documentary by following the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlGn9RDd-CE&has_verified=1

Broomfield has also directed five commercials for the car, Volkswagen Passat. A trailer for these commercials can be found by clicking on the links below:

http://www.nickbroomfield.com/commercial.html

http://www.nickbroomfield.com/commercial2.html

http://www.nickbroomfield.com/commercial3.html

http://www.nickbroomfield.com/commercial4.html

http://www.nickbroomfield.com/commercial5.html

Louis Theroux

Louis Theroux is an American-British filmmaker and journalist, who has created a number of documentaries which appeal to a wide range of audiences. His main two recognisable documentaries are "Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends" and "When Louis Met...". He has also appeared in a number of different BBC Two specials during recent years. Some of these would include, "Louis Theroux: Behind Bars", which was aired on 13th January 2008 and "Louis and The Brothel", which takes a look at the lives of prostitutes living in a legal brothel in Nevada, USA. This documentary was aired in the UK on the 9th November, 2003.

Louis Theroux: Behind Bars

Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends:

Louis and the Brothel:

Michael Moore

Michael Moore is an American filmmaker who has written, directed and starred in a number of different books and documentaries. Born in 1954, Moore is a self-described liberal. He is known for his contreversial films and books who has criticized; globalization, large corporations, U.S. President George W. Bush and the American health care system.

A few of the documentaries and films Moore has direced, include...

Capitalism: A Love Story

Sicko


Slacker Uprising



Fahrenheit 9/11

Testing Out The Word Cloud...

I had a couple of of attempts to create a word cloud of the words i have learned in media so far, related to documentaries.

Attempt Number One...

Attempt Number Two...

Techniques used in Documentaries...

http://www.christianmediafilms.com/images/interview_800.jpg

As mentioned earlier there are many different types of documentaries that appeal to a wide demograpgic. For instance, poetic style documentaries use the subject and show the documentary in a story like way. There may be a series of interviews held and it would be done with a wide range of camera angles and would look very professional.

http://www.sonyinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/1.jpg

Observarional documentaries on the other hand are slightly different. The camera observes and focuses on the targeted person or object and is often used with a handheld camera to keep the audience engaged and make them feel part of the action.

Many documentaries use something known as the "voice of god". This is whereby an unseen narrator is used througout the documentary, explaining and summerising what's happening.

Mockumentaries

A mockumentary, otherwise known as a "mock documentary" is another style of a documentary. It is ficticious film or television that is shown as a documentary. It is portrayed to the audience in a comical way, and is mocking the storyline of the film, this is mostly to engage the audience and to attract a new target audience. Mockumentaries usually follow and base themselves around current affairs in the media.

Here are some examples of contemporary mockumentaries that are well established:

Firstly, there is an award winning TV mockumentary called "The Office". This is a show which exaggerates everyday life, working in the office and is protrayed in a very humerous way. A clip from the offics is shown below:

Another example of a mockumentary would be the 2006 mocumentary comedy film, Borat. This is besed on a man from Kazikstan who travels to America alongside a companion to see what the country is like. A trailer of this is found below..